This invention relates to a connector electrically connected to a mounted part on a printed circuit board, and also relates to a wiring structure including this connector. More specifically, the invention relates to a connector suited for a mounted part, such as a relay, a power transistor and a power supply diode, through which a large current flows, and also relates to a wiring structure including this connector.
One conventional wiring structure of the type described is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10.
In this wiring structure, a connector 210 and an electromagnetic relay 220 are mounted on a printed circuit board 202 having predetermined wiring patterns 204 and 206 formed thereon. Connector terminals 212b of the connector 210 for a control system and leads terminals 222b of the electromagnetic relay 220 for a control system are soldered respectively to the wiring patterns 206, thereby forming a predetermined control circuit. Connector terminals 212a of the connector 210 for a drive system and lead terminals 222a of the electromagnetic relay 220 for a drive system are soldered respectively to the wiring patterns 204, and the terminals 212a are electrically connected respectively to the terminals 222a through the respective wiring patterns 202. With this arrangement, an external load (not shown), connected to the connector 210, can be driven and controlled by the electromagnetic relay 220.
Usually, the connector terminals 212a are formed by blanking a metal sheet, and have a predetermined thickness corresponding to a load current. On the other hand, the wiring patterns 204 and 206 are formed of a copper foil or the like, and are extremely thinner than the connector terminals 212a, and therefore need to have respective predetermined widths corresponding to the load current.
Therefore, the wiring patterns 204 (each forming a current-flowing path between the connector terminal 212a and the lead terminal 222a), through which a load drive current, larger than a current flowing through the other wiring patterns 206, flows, need to be wider than the wiring patterns 206.
However, if the wiring patterns 204 are formed into a predetermined width corresponding to the value of the energizing current to be passed through these wiring patterns 204, the area of the wiring patterns 204 increases if the value of this energizing current is large, and this greatly limits the design of the printed circuit board.